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Malone shook his head. “Still lots of time for that. We’re hardly into the first twenty-four hours. And this might not be about money at all.”
“Which leads us to ask again, what is it about?” Trent interjected, his rhetorical comment serving as a break in the conversation.
“Any progress on Katherine’s hidden stash?” Malone asked. “Ideally, any clue where that key belongs?”
She refused to say she didn’t know again. Even she had her self-esteem. Thankfully, though, she had an idea. “Most luxury makes have apps that allow owners to see the status of their vehicle at any given time. Obviously if the GPS system was tampered with this won’t help us moving forward, but it should include some travel history.” Amanda knew this because her brother, Kyle, loved motor vehicles and made his livelihood running a garage. He also insisted on sharing his knowledge.
“All right, I already have a contact at Mercedes Corporate,” Malone began. “I’ll reach out and ask about that app and if it will give us what we’re after.”
“Sounds great. Thanks, boss,” Amanda said.
A red Chevrolet sedan pulled into the lot, a balding man behind the wheel.
“Here we go.” Malone swiped his arm through the air to get them moving toward the marina building.
The man got out of his car but didn’t venture far.
“Mr. Orchid?” Malone asked.
The man ran a hand over his head. “That’s me. You, ah, can call me Edward.”
“Sergeant Malone, and Detectives Steele, and Stenson.” He gestured to them, in turn, as he introduced them.
“You wanted to see the video?” Edward waved awkwardly toward the building as if he were a wounded bird flapping a wing.
“That we do.”
The group of them walked to the structure, including the uniformed officers. Malone backstepped to talk to them. Amanda looked over her shoulder to see them both retreat to their cruisers. One left, the other got in his vehicle but stayed put.
Malone rejoined them as Trent’s phone rang. Amanda hung back with him as he took the call.
“Detective Stenson,” he answered.
Her impulse was to get close to him to see if she could hear his caller, but given their recent slip, it was best she kept her distance.
“You tried everything?… Uh-huh… okay. Thanks.” He pocketed his phone. “That was a detective from Digital Forensics. They couldn’t get anything from the burner. No call history. Nada.”
“It could have been brand-new and never used.”
“Or Katherine intentionally deleted her history as she went along.”
Amanda didn’t like the sound of that. It was mysterious enough that she had one to begin with, but if she took efforts to keep it clear, she really didn’t want to risk anyone getting their hands on the phone.
What are you hiding, Katherine?
SEVENTEEN
The marina office was cluttered with paper. It was spread across the desk and fanned over a sizeable bulletin board. The room smelled heavily of motor oil and wood, and it was doubtful the space had ever seen the business end of a duster or vacuum. But the computer was state of the art, something Edward proudly told them. He said the same applied to the security system.
“The video is HD quality,” Edward added as he sat behind a desk.
“Please just bring up six AM today,” Malone said.
Edward brought up the footage from the camera that covered the rear of the warehouse and offered a glimpse of the river in the back. They watched it play for several minutes, but nothing was happening.
“Could we try the other camera, please,” Amanda requested.
This footage covered more of the parking lot and afforded a better sightline of the water. They were quickly rewarded with Katherine’s Mercedes coming into view. The driver was still wearing the balaclava they had been at the gas station. It had turned out to be too much to expect they had gotten careless and removed it.
